Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1887-01-29
WASHINGTON LETTER.
WASHINGTON, Jan. "a, 1887,

sion week. inasmuch as more
money was voted out of the Treas
ury for this purpose than in any one
week during the present session.
And now there is proposition be-
tore Congress to establish civil
pension list, for the benefit of Gov
erment employees who have been
thirty OF forty years at their desks.
This of course meets with unquali-
fed approval from all the Depart
ment clerks, but it will probably
meet vigorous opposition from the
spoilsmen in and out of Congress.
They will hold that instead of
devising schemes for prolonging the
tenure of Office, Congress had far
better Set fixed limit to terms of
official service, and adopt the policy
of rotation.
But rising above all political con-
siderations, the Government could
scarcely do worse thing for the
young men of the country than to
tempt them with its subordinate
clerk ships, with guaranty of
retiring them on a pension thirty or
forty years afterward. No man
should sit at desk in the Depart
ment and copy letters or add up
figures for whole lifetime. He
owes something more to himself
than to enter upon such condition
of servitnde.
/ N 0v0anflVn
session of the Senate has furnished
fresh pabulum for the opponents of
secret sessions, and now one hears
"star chamber rowdyism" rung on
so many charges. 1t was Senator
Riddlpberger who stirred the Senate
up. The British extradition treaty
being under discussion, he denounc-
ed it as scheme to curry favor
with British tyrants, and said Sena
tors need not hope to hide their
votes on the treaty. He declared
that he would make it his duty to
publish the vote regardless of the
rules.
This aroused Senators Edmunds,
Evarts. Frye, and others, who I'M
dertook to convince the Virginia
Senator that he was amenable to
the rules at all times. Mr.. Riddle
berger defied the rules, and said be
would dare the Senate to expel him
for making public votes that would
sacrifice the principles of this Gov
erment.
AT one time several Senators
were shouting at the top of their
voices, so that they were distinctly
heard in the corridors and adjoining
committee rooms. The excited re-
marks were directed at Senator
Riddleberger and be was doing his
best to shout back at four or five
Senators who were shouting at him.
The new Senator elect from New
York, Congressman Hiscock, will be
conspicuous in the Senate through
his wide knowledge of every thing
relating to appropriations for the
various departments of the Govern
ment. In u general debate he will
compare favorably with any of the
Senators. He may never astOnish
his auditors there with bis brillian-
cy, but he is sure to satisfy them
always with his good sense and
knowledge of business affairs.
Mr.. Hiscock has been called an
INDECENT man because he has an
appearance of repose and is very
deliberate in his movements. His
nature seems to be contradictory,
however, for there are times when
he is furiously energetic and indus
trious. He has tall, well rounded,
portly figure, and peculiar mouth
which is said to resemble that seen
in the statue Of young Augustus
Caesar. Some people say Mr..
Hiscock shayes his upper lip on
account of the curves of this pecu-
liar mouth, which a moustache, il
permitted to grow, would hide.
An indefinite number of millions
represented in the person of Mr..
George Hearst will, next session,
resume the seat they lately occupied
in the Senate wing of the Capitol.
Mr.. Hearst will be distinguished fol
being one of the richest men in the
Senate, the money he has acquired
being his only title TO consideration,
social or political. He occupied
seat in the Senate few weeks last
year, having been appointed by the
Democratic Governor of California
to fill the vacancy caused by the
death of Senator Miller. His brief
career there was greater failure
than Mr.. Tabor's, for the latter had
sense enough not to try to make
speech, and Mr.. Hearst did not.